Lords put pressure on UK government to sign Hague Convention this year: Members of the House of Lords and leading cultural heritage experts are again calling on the government to ratify the Hague Convention seven months after it agreed to sign the international agreement. If parliament swiftly ratifies the treaty’s two protocols before any of the other five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the UK will also be in a position to set up a headquarters in London for the Blue Shield, the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross.

Kunstmuseum Bern Director Questions Expectation Surrounding Gurlitt Trove: As many react with disappointment to the results presented by the German government appointed commission on the suspected Nazi-looted trove hoarded by the late Cornelius Gurlitt, the director of the Kunstmuseum Bern—to whom Gurlitt bequeathed his controversial collection—has defended their work.

Facing Budget Shortages, Nearly One in Five UK Museums Will Make Partial Closures by 2016, Survey Reveals: Across the United Kingdom, many museums are facing an uncertain future due to severe cuts in public funding. According to research accumulated by the Museums Association, eighteen percent, or one in five museums, have made partial closures within the past year or will be forced to do so in 2016.

Academics Say the Art Market Bubble Is About to Burst—Are They Right?: A recent study published in the Journal of Empirical Finance from the University of Luxembourg predicts that the seemingly ever-growing art market bubble is about to burst.

California collectors take on the state over ivory ban: The Ivory Education Institute (IEI), an association formed in 2014 to advance the interests of collectors of objects made from ivory, filed their complaint against The State of California and the Department of Fish and Wildlife at the Superior Court in Los Angeles on December 15, 2015. Godfrey Harris, director of the IEI, said that under Assembly Bill 96, passed by the legislature of the State of California in 2015, “ivory objects held throughout California will be rendered worthless”.

A Picasso’s Economics Lesson: Sheikh Jassim bin Abdulaziz al-Thani of Qatar thought he’d bought a Picasso masterpiece in November 2014. That was when he agreed, through his agents, to pay $42 million for the spectacular “Bust of a Woman (Marie-Thérèse).” The seller was Picasso’s daughter Maya Widmaier-Picasso, who was parting with a much-loved object. But the sheikh never got his Picasso. After he had made the first two of three payments, his agents received a letter canceling the sale and refunding the money. The sculpture now anchors the magnificent “Picasso Sculpture” show at the Museum of Modern Art, with a label saying, “Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.” Larry Gagosian, the gallery’s owner, says he bought the piece in May 2015 for $105.8 million; he then sold it to an unidentified New York collector.

Sotheby’s takes an expensive gamble: A bombshell hit the art market this week: the announcement that Sotheby’s has made the $85m acquisition of the advisory agency, Art Agency, Partners. The deal gives $50m immediately to the owners of the two-year-old firm, with another $35m over the next five years if targets are met. The founders — the adviser Allan Schwartzman, who has a stellar list of clients, Christie’s former contemporary art queen bee Amy Cappellazzo and financier Adam Chinn — will form a new fine arts division overseeing Sotheby’s existing teams, primarily in the fields of 20th- and 21st-century art. All 15 members of AAP are moving to Sotheby’s.

Isil extremists destroy Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery: Iraq’s earliest Christian monastery has been destroyed by Isil extremists. Satellite imagery recorded by DigitalGlobe for the US-based Associated Press apparently shows the complete destruction of Mar Elia (St Elijah) monastery. This seems to have occurred in September 2014, three months after the site on the southern outskirts of Mosul was seized by Isil forces.

Hong Kong to bring new rules on ivory: Hong Kong is to tighten its rules on ivory. Speaking during an annual policy address on January 14, the city’s chief executive, CY Leung, said the government will “take steps to ban totally the sale of ivory in Hong Kong”. This would bring the city in line with recent promises made by the Beijing government.

Auction houses place bets on Chinese buyers picking up Impressionist and modern art in 2016: Economists have warned that the art market bubble will burst this year, but players remain confident, placing their bets on Asian art lovers – in particular those from China – buying up more Western trophy pieces.

South Korea tops global list for private art museums: South Korea has the highest number of private art museums in the world, according to a new report. The country has 45 such institutions, with no fewer than 13 in Seoul, making the South Korean capital the world’s top private museum city.

Is investing in Southeast Asian art a good idea?: Southeast Asian art has been enjoying greater recognition in recent years but is it a worthwhile investment? The answer depends on who you ask. There has been greater exposure at art exhibitions and international art fairs among other platforms. Some artworks have been sold at dizzying prices, notably the 2014 sale of “Pasukan Kita Yang Dipimpin Pangeran Diponegoro” (Our Soldiers Led Under Prince Diponegoro) by modern Indonesian artist S. Sudjojono. It went under the hammer for $7.48 million in Hong Kong.

After 4 Years in Mumbai, India Art Festival Now in Delhi: The 3-day-long festival, which celebrates contemporary and modern art has brought 40 art galleries and over 300 artists from 15 Indian cities and 5 countries under one roof and seeks to facilitate dialogue and collaborations between galleries, independent artists, art collectors and connoisseurs.

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